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Players assemble a team of three Marvel superheroes or supervillains from various storylines, controlling the team against a team of up to three other superheroes or supervillains in match-three, turn-based battles.[4] Each color-coded match does damage to the player's opponent, while creating action points which can obtain special skills. Gems disappear and are replenished from above as they are matched.[5] When they are matched, the six colors of gems on the board grant energy that can be used to execute special moves.[2] Players trade hits back and forth until one of them is downed. When all enemies are downed the fight is over revealing a reward for the winner: one of the in-game currencies, special boosts or a new character. This character can be added to your roster. If it's a duplicate, it becomes a level-up token.[5] Players earn points by winning battles, and then apply the points to unlock new attacks and level up.[6] The board is highly tactical, with up to half a dozen potential considerations beyond the best match at any given point.[2]

There are two main modes: story and multiplayer, where you can fight against other teams controlled by the game's artificial intelligence.[2] The game is free, with opportunities to purchase level-ups or new characters.[2][5] New characters, a bundle of Iso-8, hero coins and other items can also be obtained by replaying old levels.[5] As a player's roster expands, the possibilities for team composition and skill selection also expand.[5]

A player collects in-game comic book covers to unlock new characters and improve existing ones.[7] Each character has a set of real comic book covers associated with them, which represent the character's abilities and allow the player to improve the character's abilities or level them up.[8] In July 2014, Team-Ups were introduced, allowing a player to battle with single-use abilities from characters that aren't part of the player's teams.[9]

The game features an array of classic Marvel heroes and villains, including Spider-Man, Captain America, Wolverine, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Storm and Magneto, along with lesser-known characters like Moonstone.[6][7][8] In commemoration of the game's first anniversary, Thor: Goddess of Thunder, the female version of Thor, was added on October 17, 2014, making Marvel Puzzle Quest the first video game to feature the character. Devil Dinosaur was also added as a playable character for the anniversary, via an anniversary pack and as a daily reward for those who had been playing for over 365 days.[3][11][12] Other characters that have been added since the game's inception include Blade in October 2014[13] and Cyclops in February 2015.[14] On March 26, 2015, MTV News announced that Kamala Khan, who was announced as a new Marvel character in November 2013 and is the first Muslim superhero to lead a comic book series, would soon be featured in the game.[1]

Marvel Puzzle Quest was launched worldwide by D3 Publisher and Marvel Entertainment on October 3, 2013.[4][5] It was the second game developed internally by Demiurge Studios.[19] The game was originally titled Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign, before the subtitle "Dark Reign" was dropped following a July 2014 update. D3 Publisher stated that the revised title signified the beginning of the game's expansion beyond the "Dark Reign" storyline.[9]

On February 18, 2015, Sega Networks acquired Demiurge Studios, but the acquisition did not include the rights to Marvel Puzzle Quest.[19][20]

IGN rated the game a 9.1 out of 10, writing, "Marvel Puzzle Quest has taken the idea of a puzzle game with a strategic/role-playing element overlay, and turned it into an intricately crafted, remarkably deep experience." IGN added that the game is "compelling at each level" with "constant challenges and goals to work toward."[2] Touch Arcade awarded it four out of five stars, calling it "compulsively, sickeningly playable" and writing that, in comparison to other Puzzle Quest games, Marvel Puzzle Quest is more calculated and strategic, with a focus on team fighting rather than individual combat.[5] The game has received a rating of 74 on Metacritic.[21]MacLife said it "does a good job of spicing up the match-three genre for comic fans."[7]

Marvel Puzzle Quest is a 2014 Tabby Award Best Android Apps and Games winner in the Game: Puzzle, Cards & Family category.[22]